Rainbow over Noosa

At the Noosa farmers Market held each Sunday, stallholders come to set up in the predawn. Due to a combination of drowsiness and lots to do, brief greetings are exchanged and everybody pretty much keeps to themselves.

But last Sunday a gigantic rainbow arched through the dawn sky. Its spectrum had such clarity; the inside sky illuminating the tips of the gum trees. Silently we stopped setting up and gathered in twos and threes to witness this moment of beauty.  We gazed in quiet amazement and then slowly drifted back to our tasks.

Nathan and Steve chat about produce.


The Noosa Farmers Markets are held every Sunday morning. Noosa is a fav holiday destination and playground of the rich and famous from Melb and Syd. Behind the coastal strip there is seriously good soil with seriously good producers.

The quality of the produce is astounding. Steve and Tina's biodynamic organic freshly picked vegies are a revelation;  Nathan and Jackie of Chocolate Provisions produce salsas and cakes with passion according to their beliefs in sustainability and low food miles. Nearby is the multi award winning Spanner Crabs Noosa. All are selling produce of the highest quality direct to market goers.

Having worked farmers markets for while now I'm aware that there are only a handful where producers sell directly. Many so-called farmers markets resemble open air supermarkets with cheap low quality produce from the Rocklea markets sold on by stallholders who use fork lifts and cheap labour.

More on markets in another post.

The Noosa Food and Wine Festival

How many Mozzarella di Bufala makers does it take to change a light bulb? Three.... because that's all there is in Australia. And they were all in the same room at the Noosa Food and Wine Festival last weekend. Andrew from Shaw River, Vito from Vanella and yours truly. It was an unprecedented opportunity to be able to discuss Buffalo milk and the chalenges of working with it.

Gathered in this large marquee was a contingent of artisanal chees makers from Queensland; Barambah organic, Kilcoy semi matured & Fromart from Eudlo amongst others. Cheeses from around Australia were represented also; Beautiful cheddar from Tasmania, Woodside goat (SA), Meredith ashed goats (Vic). I felt proud to be exhibiting with such great cheese makers.

                                                             Sauteed pimentos!

But wait, there's more! other magnificent products like South Australian oysters,  Pimentos & exotic mushrooms grown in a railway tunnel.

From Paddock to Plate

  


Nathan serving bruschetta

I used to call  Nambour Namboring. However, I am changing my tune. Our daughters were born in Selangor, one of the few midwife run birthing hospitals in Australia. And it has a state primrary school with a unique and exciting food education program.


The Nambour State School has been holding an amazing program for school kids over the last couple of weeks. It's the From Paddock to Plate program organised by Petra Freiser of Local Harvest fame. As part of their curriculum students in grades 4 & 5 are introduced to the idea of fair trade by learning about locally produced foods. The tuckshop at the school provides fresh locally produced food for lunches.


Olive oil from Alexina, sourdough breads by Casey, Maleny Milk dairy products and my buffalo mozzarella were made into delicious dishes by chef Nathan Hoeksema of Chochlate provisions. Nathan made a bruschetta featuring Alexina's just crushed olive oil and my bufala on some of Casey's ciabatta. This was followed by his own homous and desert was frozen Wamuran lady finger banana on a stick dipped in organic chochlate.

We can only hope that more schools and communities take the example of the Nambour State School and introduce food education programs emphasising local produce , healthy eating and fair trade.

                                                        Casey smells Alexina's olive oil

Fab photos by Petra.
http://www.sunshinecoastregionalfood.com/blog/

The Pizzahacker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLC-SIGpZkE
My bro in law Patrick found out about this guy in San Franscisco -The Pizzahacker and his Frankenweber.  There's a lively underground street food scene there which we could do with here. What impresses me is the level of invention of the frankenweber and the quality of the pizza. And he's using the best ingredients... heritage tomatoes and Buffala!

Which reminds me, when he lived in Canberra, Patrick got pizzas for us from a guy who was making them in his garage.

The Cedar Street Cheeserie

I make cheese in a traditional way; fresh cheese from pure and unadulterated fresh milk by hand. My choice of milk is buffalo milk from the Mal & Margaret Thompson's dairy in Witta just 5 minutes down the road from my micro cheeserie in Maleny.

I make fresh Buffalo Mozzarella, A Love Supreme (a provincial style fresh cheese), Feta & Yoghurt. Buffalo cheeses have many great qualities but its greatest is its uniquely creamy taste.

The making of cheese is measured in millenia.As a way of preserving milk to stave off hunger in the winter months originally, it has risen to become a food artform.

I sell my cheeses directly to the public at farmer's markets in Brisbane, Noosa & Maleny. This year I have been selected to strut my wares at the Noosa Food and Wine Festival. More on that later.

The ABC recently visited me. I thought it was to be a radio bit but they brought along a camera and shot me making and talking about Mozzarella di Bufala.  To see me in action follow the link below. You'll have to copy and paste it to get a look.

http://www.abc.net.au/sunshine/photos_videos/?ref=nav#feature